Is there a painless way to combine/merge PDF files in Windows? I understand that pdftk will do it on Linux.
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closed as off-topic by slhckJul 7 '13 at 11:18
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10 Answers
There are quite a few free options, as well as some good commercial ones:
Web-based (Free)
- MergePDF. Merge up to 10 files. Max limit of 5MB/file.
- PDF Hammer. Web-based PDF editor that supports merging of multiple files
- Booklet Creater. Merges files to create a booklet. Rearranges pages to that you can print and fold to create a simple booklet.
- BCL Premium PDF Merge Merge 2 PDF documents. Max 10MB/file. Limit of 20 merges/day
Desktop tools (free)
- PDF Sam. Also known as 'PDF Split & Merge'. FOSS tool for splitting and merging PDFs. Windows & Mac. Console and GUI interfaces. On Windows, the installer by default installs Ad-Aware Security Toolbar, sets Lavasoft SecureSearch as homepage, new tabs, and default search provider.
Swift PDF. Combines multiple images (JPG, GIF, etc.) into a single PDF.
Editor's note, 5/1/2017: Swift PDF was last updated in 2006 and was compatible with Windows 95. The original link is dead and the product appears to no longer be supported. However, it is still downloadable at https://swift-pdf.en.softonic.com/
pdftk. FOSS power tool. Command line only. Windows, Mac, Linux, FreeBSD. Windows GUI versions exist, including a portable version and the official free version.
There are also a lot of commercial tools.
pdftk.exe
is available for Windows as well. See here: http://www.accesspdf.com/pdftk/#packages and here: http://www.pdfhacks.com/pdftk/pdftk-1.41.exe.zip
Here is an example commandline for pdftk.exe
. It merges all PDF files in the current directory into a combined one:
Another one:
Ghostscript can also combine multiple input PDFs (and PostScript files) into one output PDF:
Update suggested by @sunk818
There is a GUI for pdftk
named PDFTK Builder. This essentially builds a command line based on your option choices for you and executes:
My own update
Since I originally posted this answer, pdftk
has undergone further developments.
- The application's name changed to PDFtk Server (the command line tool is still called
pdftk
). - There is now version 2.02 available.
- The developers now offer their own GUI for Windows, called PDFtk Pro.
You can use PDFill PDF Tools to perform lots of manipulations on your PDFs for free.
Use the 'Merge PDF Files' button (button #1) in the screenshot below.
Try PDFsam, which comes for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.
The basic version is free, I'm pretty sure that the basic version will meet your needs. You will need to have Java installed on your computer to run this program.
I found the best for me: PDF Split and Merge
PDF Split and Merge tool is implemented using the PdfSharp library and is either GUI or command driven.It is useful for automated document creation.It allows bookmarks from the input pdfs to be imported and flexibly embedded in the destination document.
It just merges or splits PDF files, nothing else.
PDF Creator will do the trick -- you can print multiple documents to a single PDF. Relatively painless :)
Also this program named pdfbinder proved to be useful. It has a simple commandline interface for input and uses the same engine as the PDF Split and Merge already mentioned.
This little app I found with a Google search let me merge image files into a single PDF, which it didn't look like some of these options would. It's very limited, but it did the trick for me just now.
I know that you can do this with Adobe Acrobat. I assume that you don't want to pay for this if it's the only use you have. You highlight your PDF files, right-click and select Combine files in Acrobat...
:
Ghostscript, available on Linux and Windows, should be able to concatenate them, but it uses complicated command-line functions. You can use CutePDF, which has a free version, but I believe the Professional (paid) version is the only one that will concatenate.
When installing software is not an option, then combinepdf.cc is quite neat.
Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged windowspdfsoftware-rec or ask your own question.
LibreOffice is a powerful open source cross-platform Office suite that works in many regards just like Microsoft Office.
While you can use LibreOffice apps to edit spreadsheets or Word documents, you may use it as well to create, edit and save PDF documents.
LibreOffice PDF Editing
LibreOffice supports the editing of PDF documents by default and opens them in the LibreOffice Draw application. You can open Draw directly and use the File menu to load PDF documents, or use the startup wizard instead.
You may also associate LibreOffice with the PDF file format if LibreOffice is your main app for PDF documents so that you can double-click on PDF documents to have them opened in LibreOffice automatically.
The loading of PDF documents may take a moment in LibreOffice. While a one or two sheet PDF opens near instantly, PDF documents with hundreds of pages may take a minute or so to load.
You may also start a new document from scratch instead using Draw. Just make sure you select File > Export as PDF when you are done to save it as a PDF document.
LibreOffice Draw displays the pages of the loaded PDF document on the left in a sidebar, and the content of the selected page in the main editing area.
Text content displays fine for the most part but you may notice that the editor may have issues with complex layouts. Take a look at the title of my Windows 10 ebook to see what I mean:
This means unfortunately that you can't use LibreOffice to edit documents with rendering issues as these may get saved automatically after the editing.
The editing works exactly how you'd expect it to, however. You can click on any position to add, edit or delete text, and even use advanced features such as inserting images, changing the formatting or adding tables.
Once you are done editing the document you need to select 'export as PDF' from the File menu. If you don't, you end up saving the document as an ODG file, the default format that LibreOffice Draw uses.
Selecting export as PDF opens the PDF options. The options are quite extensive and give users full control over the process. To name just a few features supported by the export module: sign with watermark, set compression level, set encryption and permissions, add digital signature to document, define initial view and layout, and a lot more.
It is recommended that you check the exported PDF document to make sure that its layout and content is intact and not garbled.
Closing Words
LibreOffice Draw offers a simple straightforward option to edit PDF documents. It is most suitable for basic PDF documents with little to no formatting or advanced layouts. The program does not offer the same level of functionality as Acrobat Reader or other commercial PDF editors but it is sufficient for basic tasks.
Now You: Which program do you use to view and edit PDF documents?
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